Hear
BARI.- A conciliatory end to a difficult week for the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz: on his 66th birthday, heads of state and government of the Group of Seven (G7) and they celebrated it at the summit held in southern Italy.
A video of the moment shows the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak; to the French president, Emmanuel Macron; to the Italian Prime Minister, Georgia Meloni; to the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyenand to the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, greeting Scholz. Seconds later, the president of the United States, Joe Bidenalso joined them.
When Von der Leyen told Biden that “today is your birthday [el de Scholz]”, Biden asked: “Have you sung him a birthday song?”. Then he said: “In the Biden family, we have to sing happy birthday on the birthday”.
Later, the leaders began to sing happy birthday to Scholz, who thanked them for their gesture.
Scholz, who is accompanied in Italy by his wife, Britta Ernst, previously celebrated his birthday with his team and received a cake at midnight.
The week had not started particularly well for Scholz with the aftermath of the European elections. With 13.9% of the votes, the Social Democratic Party (SPD) that he leads achieved its worst result since it began running under this name in the national elections in Germany.
After the G7 conference, the German chancellor will travel to Switzerland on Saturday to attend the peace summit on Ukraine. He will then have to return to work on the federal budget in Berlin.
The G7, held this year in Borgo Egnazia, Apulia, Italy, brings together the leaders of Germany, Canada, the United States, France, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, along with representatives of the European Union. On this occasion, other world leaders also attended, such as the Argentine president, Javier Milei, and the event has served to address critical issues such as the war in Ukraine, the energy crisis and the war in the Gaza Strip.
In this context, the German chancellor, after his birthday celebrations, has important meetings scheduled with other leaders, such as with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
On Saturday, Scholz will travel to Switzerland to participate in a peace summit on Ukraine, where measures to advance a resolution of the conflict will be discussed. He will then return to Berlin to focus on Germany’s federal budget, a crucial task following his party’s disappointing results in the recent European elections.
ANSA and AP Agencies
THE NATION
